Author(s): Jonathan Biggins

Gift and Humour

Keating had a deadly wit and an ego the size of Everest. But he was also a remarkable politician, and we can learn much from him about the art and craft of politics.Paul Keating was, above all, a politician with a vision for the country but he was also a master of the theatre of politics, skewering his opponents to the enjoyment of friend and foes. Remember his description of Peter Costello - 'he's all tip and no iceberg' - or of John Howard as 'the desiccated little coconut'? And his take on John Hewson: 'It's like being flogged with a warm lettuce . . . He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up'.Jonathan Biggins takes us on a trip down memory lane as, drawing from his one-man stage show, he brings to life the autobiography Keating has promised never to publish. Biggins's Keating, developed over more than a decade of Wharf Revues, showcases the funny, sharp, emotional and flamboyant boy from Bankstown who was as comfortable writing an essay on neo-classicism and the architecture of Berlin as he was staring down the Head of Treasury to float the dollar. The Gospel According to Paul distils Keating's essence, revealing the man who grew up in the tribe of the Labor Party and gained an education at the knee of Jack Lang, who treated economics as an artform, and demanded we confront the wrongs of our colonial past, and asks the questions: what can we learn today from this singular politician who dominated such a momentous time in our country's history? And how do the current cohort of L-platers compare?